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Shi and Xu claim national titles, Fu out of shape

Xinhua, April 5, 2016 Adjust font size:

China's Shi Jinglin claimed the women's 100m breaststroke title in one minute 6.29 seconds, a world fourth fastest time of the year, at the National Swimming Championships here on Tuesday.

Shi's time could take a silver medal at the Kazan World Championships last year, and it could also win a medal at the London Olympic Games.

Henan's Zhang Xinyu placed second in 1:07.35, while Suo Ran from Chinese Navy came third in 1:07.78. All the top three reached the Olympic A standard, 1:07.85, of the event.

In the men's 100m backstroke, Zhejiang native Xu Jiayu led all the way to win in 53.38, a world fifth time, while his arch rival, Irie Ryosuke of Japan, just timed a world third 53.31 in the semifinal at Japan's Olympic trials on the same day.

Zhejiang's Li Guangyuan took second on 54.32. The bronze went to the man on the wing in eight, Hu Yixuan, of Jiangxi, on 55.10.

The women's 100m backstroke was a tragedy for 50m back world champion Fu Yuanhui, who was out of form recently and only ranked the last.

Fu, fourth in the event at Kazan Worlds, clocked 1:02.13. It remains to be seen if she can come back to her best in the following four months before the Rio Games.

"I knew I am in bad form, but I didn't expect it is so bad," said Fu. "I was sick after the Kazan Worlds, and my body conditions affected my training. I was very sad yesterday after the semis. It is hard to take."

Guangdong's Wang Queer took the title in 59.82, 0.08 seconds ahead of Hubei's Chen Jie. Beijing's Chen Haihua, who timed a 59.55 from semis, touched in 1:00.02 to rank third.

Also on Tuesday, Zhejiang's Wang Shun won his second title through men's 200m freestyle, though the time 1:47.28 only ranked 14th in the world. Olympic medal hope Sun Yang was out of competition due to foot injuries.

A good news was double Olympic champion Ye Shiwen seemed back to form as she topped the women's 200m medley heats and semis. Ye only finished seventh in her signature 400m medley due to stomach pain on Sunday. Endi